Ink model derivation mechanism using Weibull distribution function

Abstract

A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes a printer controller to receive optical density (OD) measurement data corresponding to application of a halftone pattern using ink on a medium in a printing system and calculate a predicted OD versus normalized ink coverage relationship for the printing system based on the received OD measurement data.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to:
 receive optical density (OD) measurement data corresponding to application of a halftone pattern using ink on a medium in a printing system; and 
 calculate a predicted OD versus normalized ink coverage relationship for the printing system based on the received OD measurement data, wherein the predicted OD versus ink coverage relationship is calculated using Weibull distribution function parameters. 
 
     
     
       2. The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the OD measurement data comprises single-pass OD measurements and dual-pass OD measurements versus digital count. 
     
     
       3. The machine-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the single-pass OD measurements comprise ink measurements of a single application of the halftone pattern image, and the dual-pass OD measurements comprise ink measurements of a double application of the halftone pattern. 
     
     
       4. The machine-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the single-pass OD measurement is simulated from halftone patterns using masking, and dual-pass OD measurement versus digital count is simulated by not masking the halftone image data. 
     
     
       5. The machine-readable medium of  claim 4 , including data that, when accessed by a machine, further causes the machine to receive a maximum ink coverage measurement. 
     
     
       6. The machine-readable medium of  claim 5 , including data that, when accessed by a machine, further causes the machine to calculate the Weibull distribution function parameters based on the OD measurement data and one of the normalized ink coverage and maximum ink coverage measurement. 
     
     
       7. The machine-readable medium of  claim 6 , wherein the Weibull distribution function parameters are calculated using a non-linear optimization. 
     
     
       8. A printing system comprising:
 a printer controller to receive optical density (OD) measurement data corresponding to application of a halftone pattern using ink on a medium in a printing system and calculate a predicted OD versus normalized ink coverage relationship for the printing system based on the received OD measurement data, wherein the predicted OD versus ink coverage relationship is calculated using Weibull distribution function parameters. 
 
     
     
       9. The printing system of  claim 8 , further comprising a measurement module to generate the OD measurement data. 
     
     
       10. The printing system of  claim 8 , wherein the OD measurement data comprises single-pass OD measurements and dual-pass OD measurements versus digital count. 
     
     
       11. The printing system of  claim 10 , wherein the single-pass OD measurements comprise ink measurements of a single application of the halftone pattern image, and the dual-pass OD measurements comprise ink measurements of a double application of the halftone pattern. 
     
     
       12. The printing system of  claim 11 , wherein the single-pass OD measurement is simulated from halftone patterns using masking, and dual-pass OD measurements versus digital count is simulated by not masking the halftone image data. 
     
     
       13. The printing system of  claim 12 , wherein the printer controller receives a maximum ink coverage measurement. 
     
     
       14. The printing system of  claim 13 , wherein the printer controller calculates the Weibull distribution function parameters based on the OD measurement data and one of the normalized ink coverage and maximum ink coverage measurement. 
     
     
       15. The printing system of  claim 14 , wherein the Weibull distribution function parameters are calculated using a non-linear optimization. 
     
     
       16. The printing system of  claim 15 , wherein the printer controller calculates the predicted OD versus ink coverage relationship based on the calculated Weibull distribution function parameters. 
     
     
       17. A method comprising:
 receiving optical density (OD) measurement data corresponding to application of a halftone pattern using ink on a medium in a printing system; and 
 calculating a predicted OD versus normalized ink coverage relationship for the printing system based on the received OD measurement data, wherein the predicted OD versus ink coverage relationship is calculated using Weibull distribution function parameters. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the OD measurement data comprises single-pass OD measurements and dual-pass OD measurements versus digital count. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 receiving a maximum ink coverage measurement; 
 calculating the Weibull distribution function parameters based on the OD measurement data and one of the normalized ink coverage and the maximum ink coverage measurement; and 
 calculating the predicted OD versus ink coverage relationship based on the calculated Weibull distribution function parameters.